Marko Livaja

Marko Livaja ( born 26 August 1993) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Hajduk Split.

Livaja began at the lower-tier Croatian side GOŠK Kaštel Gomilica when he was 4 years old, and subsequently NK Omladinac Vranjic before getting a call to the Dinamo Zagreb Academy in the summer of 2008.

However, before he was registered for Dinamo he received a call from his hometown club Hajduk Split Academy, long-standing rivals of Dinamo, and moved there.

At the beginning of 2010, he was promoted to the full Hajduk team.

Later in 2010 (after joining the full Hajduk team) Livaja was sold to Internazionale, who loaned him to Swiss side FC Lugano in 2011.

He was loaned again to Cesena in summer 2011 through a €250,000 deal from Hajduk Split, and made his Serie A debut for Cesena against Fiorentina in October 2011.

Livaja played for Cesena in both their primary team and their youth team.

After Andrea Stramaccioni was appointed the coach of the first team, Livaja became a member of Inter Primavera, winning the 2011–12 NextGen series.

In January 2012 he returned to Inter when Cesena partially sold him to them for 11.000.000 million in a co-ownership deal.

Livaja received his first call-up as a member of the first team on 1 April 2012, where he was an unused substitute in a match against Genoa won 5–4 at San Siro.

In the 2012–13 season, Livaja made his first appearance in the opening season match against Pescara and played his first game as a team starter against Roma in January 2013.

He appeared in a total of six Serie A games during the first half of the season, but without scoring a goal.

Livaja got more playing time in European games, as he was the coach Stramaccioni's first choice striker for 2012–13 UEFA Europa League group matches against Rubin Kazan, FK Partizan, and Neftchi Baku.

He scored his first goal for Inter against Rubin Kazan on 20 September 2012 and became Inter's top scorer for the group stage, with four goals in six group matches.

Inter finished second in Group H with 11 points, three behind Rubin Kazan.

On 31 January 2013 Livaja was loaned to Atalanta, though Inter retained half his registration rights.

Inter paid €1.5 million to acquire Livaja outright from Cesena but resold half his rights to Atalanta for €2.5M as part of Ezequiel Schelotto's deal for €6M.

Livaja made his debut for the new club against Catania Calcio on 10 February 2013 and scored his first two goals for them on Matchday 26 against A.S. Roma.

For disciplinary reasons, he remained off the squad list in April during Atalanta's match against Sampdoria.

He played his first game against his owners Inter Milan on 7 April 2013, coming on as a second-half substitute.

In April, Livaja was given Atalanta's "Man of the Month" award for February 2013 by the club fans.

On 7 May, before the match with Juventus, Livaja was once again expelled from the squad due to a breach of discipline.

Livaja signed with Rubin Kazan on 15 May 2014 on a five-year deal.

The Russian league club paid up to €6M for him.

Due to his erratic behaviour on 31 August 2015, Rubin Kazan send him on loan at Serie A side Empoli.

His spell didn't go as expected, with Livaja scoring only once in 18 matches for Azzurri, only four as starter.

That goal came on 22 November during the 2–2 away draw against Fiorentina.

On 14 July 2016, Livaja joined La Liga side Las Palmas by signing a contract until June 2020.

He made his debut later on 22 August, a debut which brought his first goals as well, as Las Palmas defeated Valencia 4–2 at Mestalla Stadium.

Then, he endured a 613-minute scoreless run across 10 matches until 4 December 2016, when he scored he's team's only goal in the 1–1 away draw against Deportivo Alavés.

Livaja made his first Copa del Rey appearance on 10 January of the following year in the returning leg of round of 16 against Atlético Madrid, scoring a brace in a 2–3 away win but 4–3 aggregate loss.

On 1 July 2017, after disciplinary problems, Livaja was loaned to AEK Athens, for an initial loan fee of €200,000 with a purchase option of €1.8 million for the summer of 2018.

He made his debut on 25 July 2017 in a 2–0 home defeat against CSKA Moscow in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round.

On 28 September 2017, he scored a 90th-minute equaliser for AEK, his second in a game that ends 2–2 against Austria Wien in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

On 5 November 2017 he scored the only goal in the "double-headed eagle" derby against PAOK.

On 19 November 2017, Livaja stole a point for AEK in an away 1–1 derby against rivals Panathinaikos with a dramatic equalizer at the last moment of the game.

On 27 November 2017, he scored a brace in a 3–0 home win against Platanias, which brought his team back to the top of the league table.

On 3 December 2017, with his second-half goal, AEK won 2–0 in an away clash against Levadiakos remaining on top of the 2017–18 Super League after 13 matches.

He played for Croatia from 2018 to 2023 scoring 4 goals in 21 matches.

He won bronze medal with Croatia at FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.